Virat Kohli has been enduring a poor form for the last two seasons. Virat Kohli scored his last international century on November 23, 2019. It was his 70th international century at 31 years of age. Only one international century behind Ricky Ponting and well ahead of other greats of the game.
Virat Kohli is also much ahead of his contemporaries Joe Root and Steve Smith. Kohli had nearly caught up with Sachin in scoring international centuries at the same age.
But then suddenly Kohli form deserted him. He has gone more than two and half years without an international century. It is not only lack of centuries, but even runs are hard to come by.
Kohli has scored 10 half-centuries in ODI since his last century. He has scored runs at an average of 35 which is not very bad, only compared to the standards of Kohli. But his performance has been really bad in test cricket.
He has scored test runs only at an average of 27 since his last century. Kohli had lean periods before, but this is his worst career slump.
Even Sachin had a slump in his 30s. But it was followed by the best phase of his career at 37 years of age.
Among his contemporaries, everyone has gone through bad patches. Joe Root suffered from bad form after taking up captaincy. Joe Root has gone a year without scoring a century more than once. But he is now in the form of his life. We can also not forget how Dhoni supported Jadeja and Rohit when they were not performing.
Kohli form has been poor but other Indian batsman have not covered themselves in glory. Runs and average of top run-getters for India in ODI and tests since Nov 24, 2019 can be seen below
Form of Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara in test cricket has been as bad as Kohli in the past two years. Only Rishabh Pant and Rohit Sharma have been reliable batsman in both formats of the game. KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan have also done well in ODI.
Kohli numbers also look worse than actuals because lesser cricket has been played since Covid. Kohli also has often sat out in matches against weak teams. Further, his poor performance in the last two IPL tournaments casts a shadow on his international career.
Poor form of Rahane and Pujara get overlooked as they dont play in all formats of the game.
When most of batsman have not been able to play up to their potential. Then some fault also lies with team management and coach. At 33 years playing in all formats of the game can be too much. Team management should manage the burden on Kohli. Like Pujara, Kohli should also try playing against weaker opposition in Ranji/County cricket to get his confidence back.
Kolhi definitely can make a comeback and reach his best form. Only time will tell.
